Induma Mill Power Feed

[walterwoj]

If you've seen my previous posts you'll know that I recently bought and Induma S-1 Mill. It is basically a heavier Italian clone of a Bridgeport J-Head. It's been working great and I have been making little upgrades here and there to it. I have installed a VSD to run the 3-phase motor but it is apparently only good to run 1 motor at a time so it won't run the existing power feed motor (also 3 phase). The power feed has also bee broken in the past and booger welded back together so it would take a lot of work to repair the frame and replace the motor. For that reason I decided to buy a new Chinese power feed for it. Should be plug and play, right?

Nope. While it is a 'clone' of a Bridgeport they apparently got original with the x-axis handles and shafts. There is NOTHING that matches the Bridgeport power feed: The shafts are a different sizes (apparently the BP is also stepped down a size at some point too), the hand wheels are cross-pinned in place with bolts, and the shafts on the Induma are taper-pinned to the dial bushings. The dial bushings are also locked with a screw not a nut on the shaft like a BP. (Having never owned a BP I could be wrong on some of this but that's what it looks like from the power feed setup I received.)

Not being one to be deterred by complete failure and never willing to cut my losses I decided to MAKE it fit. This thread will be my documentation of my success or further failures. LET'S GET STARTED!

 

[walterwoj]

Today I made a new DIal-to shaft bushing. I could have just modified the old one but I hate making permanent non-reversible changes to things, so I decided to make a new one that I could customize to my needs. I started with a 3 1/4" Dia x 2 1/2" piece of 12L14. I faced both sides, turned the small end close to size. Then the fun part! The taper. I determined that it was approx 50* with a protractor. The taper is decorative so I didn't obsess over it. I just used the dial on the compound to set the taper and when for it. I did all the turning at ~600 rpm with some cheap carbide insert tooling i bought... It's been going pretty good. I got a good finish at that speed, mostly due to the large diameter i think.

Then I flipped it in the chuck and held it by the small diameter. It is less than .250" long so I was nervous about it popping loose, so I added a live center to the mix. The large shoulder diameter is non-critical so I left it a bit oversize (for some operations planned later). The main body diameter is the most important part so I took my time getting it right.

I actually got it too close to the dial size and it didn't want to go on the first time. So I chucked it up again and hit it with some 220 emery cloth. That brought it down .0005-.001" and it fits like a glove. The proof is in the test fit!

Here is the old one and the new one:

We'll be seeing more of this later. It is critical to the setup. That's all for today!

 

[benmychree]

I had an Induma 1-S without power feed and was easily able to modify an Servo Feed intended for a Bridgeport to fit the Induma; don't ask for details now, that was probably 30 or 40 years ago.

 

[RandyWilson]

Just a note. My Cincinnati has a 3ph power feed motor along with the 3ph spindle. I run both motors off of the same VFD. I just make sure never to turn the table motor on or off while powered

 

[Nutfarmer]

As John York stated:
I had an Induma mill it also was set up with a servo brand feed on the x table as many mills are today. The mill was heavier and more rigid than most Bridgeport clones. The only problem I had was finding a back gear drive belt.